As most people who have been in canoes will appreciate, paddling is an extremely tiresome exercise if kept up for any significant length of time. It is particularly tiresome on the back, shoulders and arms which, for people who are in less than excellent physical shape, are relatively weak parts of the body.
In addition to being tiresome, canoe paddling requires a certain degree of skill particularly with respect to keeping the canoe on a straight path which necessitates alternate paddling to opposite sides of the canoe.
In light of the above, foot operated paddles have been designed for attachment to a canoe. These paddles are balanced on either side of the canoe and because of their foot operation are substantially less tiring than conventional paddling.
However, the paddle attachments that are presently available require relatively complicated attachment methods including physically bolting the paddles to the canoe. This is not desirable in that it leaves holes in the canoe. Furthermore, bolting and even standard clamping techniques do not provide the sturdiness required for an efficiently operated paddle attachment which is subject to significant operating stresses and pressures placed on it by the person paddling the canoe. If fact, in the case of a fibreglass canoe standard mounting methods create stresses which are likely to crack the fibreglass.